Cured

I heard my bipeds saying that it was time that I met the postman. I was always eager to meet new people.

They watched for the postman bringing the mail and opened the door when he arrived. The female biped said, “Good morning, we wanted the puppy to meet you!”

He said, “I don’t particularly want to meet a puppy. I don’t like dogs – they’re an occupational hazard!”

This really shocked me. I hadn’t come across anyone who didn’t like me – I thought everyone wanted to make a fuss of me! But difficult as it was to believe that there was someone who didn’t like me, this was even worse – this was someone who didn’t like any dogs at all, not just me. And he’s not the only one with this problem! There’s a word for it – cynophobia, which is a very strange thing to call it. I’d had no idea that anyone could be frightened of dogs and it seemed like a bad dream.

I heard my biped say, “Oh, you don’t have to do anything. Just as long as you don’t mind me opening the door and taking the mail from you some days. It’s just so the puppy gets used to you bringing the post and knows that there’s nothing to worry about. She’s going to be quite big and we want her to be friendly to you.”

The postman said, “Well, if it means one less dog that wants me for breakfast, I’ll give it a try.”

I had no idea why he thought I might want to eat him – my bipeds always ensured that I was perfectly well fed. I felt really sorry for him, he was missing out on so much! It was rather clever of my biped to tell him that it was for my benefit, so that he wasn’t embarrassed about being nervous.

We opened the door to him a couple of times a week and I always put on my cutest expression. The postman always kept his distance and watched me carefully. My biped always kept me very close by her side and sometimes I got a treat for sitting nicely. Some weeks went by and the postman was gradually looking less nervous than he had at first.

One morning he said, “She does sit quietly, she seems like a nice dog.” We were making progress with his problem!

Then a week or two later, he said, “She’s grown a lot, but she’s still being nice.”

Of course I was being nice – I wanted to be his friend! But I took it as a good sign that he’d noticed and said so – his attitude was slowly improving.

A few weeks after that, when my biped was giving me a treat for sitting nicely, he asked, “Do you think I could give her one of those?” My biped replied that he could and handed him a treat. He held it out to me and I took it very gently. He smiled at me! I was delighted! It had only taken a couple of months and I knew we’d be friends for a lot longer than that.

After that he always seemed pleased to see me and I decided to make the eradication of dogophobia my mission.

That was a very good way to get the postman to like you and you were very good sitting quietly. Our postman loves dogs and will get out of his truck to come pet us. That makes us love him, because so many people are afraid of us just because we are big!?

Well done on training the postman so well – our postman is very scared of Stan even though he is so small – perhaps because he barks when he hears him coming down the drive but he stops when he knows it is the postie…

You are brave to meet and greet the postman. I LOVE people, unless they are trying to deliver things – mail included. I’m pretty sure the mailman is trying to kill me, so I freak out as soon as I see him, even if he’s across the street. Mom helps me calm down, but each day, I lose my mind all over again when the mail comes (or we get a FedEx delivery, or a UPS delivery, or somebody is carrying tools, or if I see a balloon, or hear an airplane….) Ugh. I need to be more like you!

Awww Clowie! Now I want to hug you all over again lol 🙂 You are so sweet and gentle with the postie and it’s lovely that you’re winning him round in this way! You know, posties take some awful unprovoked bites from people’s dogs. They have to have special training at work to learn how to defend themselves against dog attacks and sometimes they have to take many weeks off work because of dog bites. One postie was bitten badly by a Wiemereiner which went from friendly to highly aggressive in a moment without warning. It’s very sad because those posties are often scared of dogs afterwards and won’t deliver to their houses anymore. Some even leave the job.So it is wonderful that you are looking after your postie in this way and a lovely read. I am sure your postie will grow to love you lots and maybe in time give you hugs too! And your bipeds are great too for their part in this plan – posties love responsible dog owners!!

Thanks, I’m surprised that some dogs treat the postman so badly. He sometimes brings interesting things – usually it’s a load of things that the bipeds name Bill, or things that they put straight in the bin. But sometimes there have been treats in the mail!

Your bipeds probably put both the things named Bill straight in the bin too!! Bill is a real pain 😉 I think the dogs that are horrible to posties have lazy bipeds who even think its funny to scare the postie sometimes. They are too lazy to train their dogs and the dog-fearing postie intrudes on dog’s territory and comes under attack! Some bipeds blame the postie’s uniform. They say it’s a trigger to bite. But they’re silly bipeds who don’t train their dogs. A bite can sometimes mean dog being put to sleep and always it means their biped gets no post deleivered and has to collect it form the office themeselves. But any good postman is a dog fearing postie! It goes with the territory!

I’ve heard them say that they’d like to put Bill in the bin, but they have to take care of him!

My bipeds always say that the effort put into training pays dividends later. I’m not sure what those are but I’m persisting in my training of them in the hope that I’ll like these dividends when they arrive!

How cool that your bipeds knew that you needed to meet and greet the postman…totally forward thinking on their part…and of course…you my furlfriend…are so adorable that who could resist you…just sayin’…

That is a lovely thing you did Clowie – postmen have a hard time at some bipeds houses because they haven’t told their dogs about this problem. In our books, Pyrenean Mountain dogs are the most gentle, loving animals. 😀

Good job, Clowie! Your postman must have spent too much time in a neighborhood like ours. There are several very ill-mannered dogs that run the streets. Some of them actually belong to bipeds who don’t take the time to pay attention to where they are or what they are doing. Others have no home except the streets. So they have worse manners towards bipeds than the local wild coyotes!

Keep up the good work! You’re making the world a better place, one dogophobic, at a time. 🙂

Good for you, Clowie! Usually, it isn’t a case of bad dog, but a case of bad biped owners!

I just nominated you for two awards – Sisterhood of the World Blogging award and the
Tell Me About Yourself award. No pressure to post them, just wanted to share. Check them out at emcmemoir.wordpress.com. Thanks much for stopping by!

Hi Clowie! Nice to meet you and your blog! I happen to HATE mailmen but I don’t bite ’em.
I have to ask you…you only blog once a week? Must be nice!!! BOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Barks and licks and love, Dakota

Hi, it’s nice to meet you as well. I’m glad you don’t bite him – you never know one day someone might train him to bring you treats. And yes, I blog once a week, I have lots of other important things to do – like taking the bipeds for long walks and going swimming and taking naps, and I like to be different!